Our summer series, Around the World with Busy Kids Love Music, makes its third stop this week — and we’re landing in Italy.
Italy is one of those countries that most people associate with music almost instinctively. Opera, of course, comes to mind first — but Italian folk music runs much deeper than that, and older too. In this episode, we dig into the roots of Italy’s musical tradition, exploring how its position at the crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean left its sound shaped by an unusually wide range of cultures: Celtic, Slavic, Arabic, Spanish, and more. Each of those influences left something behind, and what emerged over centuries is a folk tradition full of variety and regional personality.
One of the more interesting threads we pull on in this episode is opera itself. We typically think of opera as high art — the kind of thing performed in grand venues for dressed-up audiences — but it actually fits the definition of folk music in some important ways, and that makes it worth looking at through a different lens.
Collect your passport stamp!
If you’ve been following along with the series, don’t forget to download this episode’s Italy stamp for your passport. And if you haven’t grabbed the passport yet, you can download it here — it’s a fun way to keep track of all the musical destinations we’re visiting this summer.
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Musical Samples You’ll Hear in this Episode:
Occitan Folk Song – A l’entrada del temps clar
The Best Italian Songs of All Time
Music Listening Schedule for Episode 75
I’ve created a YouTube playlist for you that includes five samples of folk music and dancing. You can view the videos I’ve complied here.
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